Berserker Unhinged
by Legion Fardreamer
Summary: We've all seen the stories where Shinji mans up and grows a pair, but what about the other side of that coin? The side where he decides things like sanity and humanity are overrated, and decides to leave them behind as he takes revenge on the world at large?


"I've proved my point. I've demonstrated there's no difference between me and everyone else! All it takes is one bad day to reduce the sanest man alive to lunacy. That's how far the world is from where I am. Just one bad day." The Joker, DC Comics.

It had been a bad day for Shinji. That was the only way that he could describe it. A very bad day. He rubbed at the bruises Asuka had left on his arms and chest. The one on his back was still too tender to touch.

First, he forgotten to set his alarm, which meant he overslept and was unable to make breakfast and lunch for himself and Asuka. It also meant that he was unable to wake her up in time for school. Neither of them had awakened until Misato had come home from her shift at NERV, which was about an hour after school started. Asuka had been awakened first, and she had proceeded to take it out on Shinji in a violent manner.

Second, upon arriving to class, both of them had to serve punishment. Asuka wound up trying to lie her way out of it, and got extra punishment. Again, she took it out on Shinji the moment noone could see her do it.

Third, at lunch time, Asuka took all his pocket money in order to buy herself something to eat, leaving him with nothing.

Sighing in resignation, Shinji went up to the roof, having decided that being alone with his SDAT player was the best medicine for a lousy day. This proved to be a mistake, as Asuka was not done with punishing him.

Shinji lay on the roof, the sun shining down on him, and Chopin's Nocturne playing through his ear buds. He never saw Asuka creep up on him, and glare down at him with naked disgust. He did not realize she was there until she allowed her shadow to fall over him. He opened his eyes, and got an eyeful. The angle at which she was standing over him gave Shinji a perfect view of her panties, and he blushed at the sight, turning his head away.

Realizing what he had just seen, she stomped down on Shinji's SDAT player, crushing it to pieces, and delivering a vicious kick to his face. She then turned on her heel, muttered "Stupid pervert! Serves you right," and walked back down to the classroom.

Recovering himself from the blow to his head, Shinji saw the condition of his SDAT player, and felt tears sting his eyes. Oddly, he felt laughter well up in him at the same time. Giggles pushed their way out of him, and he couldn't stop them. The tears also wouldn't stop, and he suddenly knew what he needed to do. After all, Asuka punished him all the time, so it was okay for pilots to discipline each other, right? Asuka just needed to be disciplined.

Shinji could do that.

Picking up the pieces of his precious SDAT player, Shinji continued to giggle and weep as he put them in his pockets. He then went downstairs to the classroom, leaving his sanity behind on the roof of the school.

Asuka had a smug expression on her face as she came back downstairs, and knowing that that was where Ikari had gone, Rei had the sense that something very bad had either just happened or was about too.

She was right on both counts.

Upon seeing Ikari enter the room, giggling and weeping with dead eyes, she felt a shiver of dread crawl up her spine. She had heard that sound before, in the cloning chamber where her spares were housed. Insane chuckling that did not stop, and was not indicative of anything amusing. The room went silent as he entered, which allowed her to hear Representative Horaki's gasp of horror.

The rictus grin on his face was nearly as disturbing as the weeping and laughter, and the blood from where Asuka's kick had torn his cheek open did not help matters.

Asuka still had the smirk on her face as she turned to admire her handiwork. Upon seeing the vacant stare, her smirk vanished.

"Stop that laughing, Third. You're bleeding all over the place."

The last thing she saw that day was Shinji tilting his head slightly, gripping a leg of her desk with one hand, and smashing it down on her head. This spurred Rei into action. Dialing Misato's number, she waited until it was picked up, and then whispered "Major Katsuragi, I believe you should contact Section Two, and send them here to the school. They will need restraints, and possibly a sedative for Pilot Ikari. Pilot Soryhu will also need medical attention." She hung up on the squawk of confusion.

Kensuke could not believe his eyes. The Red Devil was finally getting what was coming to her! As he had started filming the moment Shinji came back into the room, he had caught the whole thing on camera. It did not even occur to him to stop Shinji as he began to raise the desk a second time. This was great stuff! He could hear the class rep scream "Ikari, NO!", and caught Touji as he tackled Shinji to the floor.

He also caught Shinji's face as he realized that someone was interfering with justice. That look was a little scary, but at least it wasn't pointed at him. When Shinji brought his knee up sharply into Touji's groin, and then put a fist across his jaw, Kensuke started to realize that maybe there was something seriously wrong. When Rei got in between Shinji and Asuka's prone body, Shinji reached up as if to caress her cheek. At the last second, the move turned vicious, and he gripped Rei's neck and slammed her head down on the nearest desk, knocking her out.

Shinji looked down at Rei for a moment, and then over at Asuka, and then turned to leave the classroom. Noone moved to stop him, and the teacher actually plastered himself against the wall in order stay out of the insane pilot's path. Once he was gone, Hikari yelled "Someone get the school nurse down here with a first aid kit! Kensuke! Put that camera down, and help me with Touji!"

Shinji wandered his way out of the school, noone even attempting to stop him after he put down a bully with a fist in the throat. He barely slowed down, simply walking over the choking bully as he made his way off of the school grounds.

It had been a very long day for Fuyutsuki Kozo. He had been practically buried in paperwork for a good portion of the day, and then with the incident involving the Third Child having what seemed to be a nervous breakdown, things got a little bit worse.

The First Child was relatively unharmed, nursing a bump on the head and a mild concussion. Touji and Asuka had been hospitalized, along with another student, plus six police officers, four Section 2 agents, an orderly, and Ritsuko Akagi had gotten a broken arm and a needle broken off in her neck.

The Third Child had been laughing the entire time.

According to the First Child's report, Shinji had also been crying when he went berserk at the school. When Section Two had brought him in, he hadn't been crying anymore. In fact, Fuyutsuki had never seen such a combination of insanity, rage, and evil intent. When he looked in the Third Child's eyes, he could see the murder of everyone he knew in that boy's glare. Any trace of the original boy was gone, and the thought that he had a hand in it made Fuyutsuki shiver.

Gendo had just gone to see the boy, no doubt to try to instill some kind of fear in him and get him to obey. Fuyutsuki did not expect the tactic to work, but it was the Commander's decision.

God help them all.

Ritsuko Akagi was having a small nervous breakdown of her own. Within minutes of the Commander entering the cell, Shinji had somehow snapped his restraints and gotten hold of his father. The result had been violent, and very nearly fatal, for Gendo. Shinji had beaten him within an inch of his life, and it was likely that the man was going to lose the use of his right arm. While that was disturbing all on its own, what bothered her even more was the readings that kept coming up while Shinji was in an agitated state.

He kept reading like an Evangelion.

It made no sense. His blood work came back clean, and other than his aberrant behavior, he showed no signs of contamination by the Eva. During the attack on Gendo, however, Shinji's eyes had glowed red, and he was surrounded by an orange light that could only be an AT field.

Sighing in frustration, Ritsuko looked down at the monitor of her computer, glancing at the view of Shinji in his cell. He was naked, except for his new restraints. The new ones were made from the same metal as the Eva's armor, and wrapped around his upper and lower arms.

Just as she was about to turn away, Shinji turned toward the camera and stared. The expression was cold, and otherwise unreadable. After a moment, he harrumphed, and then turned toward whoever was entering his cell.

Wait a moment. Noone was supposed to be in his cell!

Watching the monitor with wide, disbelieving eyes, Ritsuko saw Misato come into the camera's view. Shinji stood up to face her, and his expression was no longer cold. It was angry, and his eyes were glowing again. Not a good sign.

"Why?"

Ritsuko gasped. His snarling voice was gravelly, and it was the first coherent word he had spoken to anyone since his breakdown. When Shinji snapped his restraints yet again, Ritsuko was ready to call security, but his next words stopped her cold.

"Why didn't you help me?"

Ritsuko could see tears in Misato's eyes as she stuttered out a response.

"Shinji, p-please! I did-didn't know that-..."

"You knew. You saw. Why didn't you help me?"

Misato was openly sobbing now.

"Please, Shinji! I'm sorry!"

Shinji stepped around the crying woman, and tore the cell door apart. Just before he stepped through it, he looked over his shoulder. The camera's resolution was good enough to see the tears in Shinji's eyes as his deranged smile took its place on his face.

"Sorry isn't enough."

The sound of Misato's near-hysterical sobbing could drown out the sound of Shinji's insane giggling as he walked down the hall. Ritsuko finally recovered herself enough to alert security, although she doubted that there was anything they could do to stop him this time.


End file.
